The Gorillas In Our Midst

If you’re like us, you never cease to be amused at how capriciously the fates can impart potency to any bullying goon or braying jackass in this business.

Not so amusing is having to deal with these demoralizing despots once they assume a position of power... watching an alpha male display his virility as he lumbers around his office, thumping his chest and overturning furniture, or having one of your Fome-Core-mounted comps flung at you at high velocity by a shrieking executrix can dampen even the heartiest spirit.

Which brings us to this perfectly dreadful tale sent in by one of our readers:

Dear Edwina, 

I don’t know if you publish non-fiction, but this is a true story I heard from an AE I worked with at --------. This AE had gone to show some revised comps to a client - a real asshole of a veep at one of the studios. The AE arrives at the office just as the veep’s Big Boss walks in. The Big Boss ignores the AE and the veep’s assistant and storms directly into the veep’s office and proceeds to rip the veep a new one at full volume. 

The Big Boss goes into a screaming blowout - firing a shitload of insults and f-bombs at the veep so loud you can hear it in the outer office. After about 10 minutes of this, the AE realizes there’s no way she can face her client after this semi-public humiliation so she leaves the comps with the assistant, asking her to tell the veep that a messenger dropped them off and she tiptoes out the door. 

The AE goes back to her office and calls the veep and trying to sound all casual, she asks if he received the revisions.

The veep asks why she sent them by messenger instead of bringing them over herself and, before the AE can make up an excuse, the veep starts screaming - firing a shitload of insults and f-bombs at her.

Signed, Trickle Down Theory In Action

Comments

[Victor Immature]

...and then the AE went to the art directors and designers and fired off a shitload of insults and f-bombs?

[don diesel von weasel]

douchebaggery.

then the AE gets the revisions with an ASAP timeline and the disgruntled art directors miss out on dinner with the family for the 353rd consecutive weeknight. divorce. cocaine. hookers. lay-offs. foreclosure. more cocaine, more hookers. a life of crime. death.

what a tangled web we weave.

[Anita Cocktail]

Well, the AE made a huge mistake in leaving - she should have made sure the VP knew she had heard everything. You gotta take what little leverage you can get.

[Heidi Fleiss]

Please. Keep hookers out of this sleazy business. We have a reputation to maintain.

[Jerry Mandering]

anita has a good point, it would have been a good bonding moment..."wow what an a-hole you have to deal with, you poor thing!"

[A-hole #2]

hahahhahaha... or better yet... leave with the comment "you deserved all that and more...you a-hole"

[Jeff R. I.]

Come on people this is not a joke. Our business SAVES LIVES! If someone forgets to check the legals someone down the road might get blown to bits. If an actors head gets flipped whole communities might go without potable water. If the copy line isn't right on the mark children in Africa will starve, or worse they may be forced to become soldiers. All just because you folks didn't care enough to do your jobs. What we do is more vital than clean air. So please allow some degree of compassion to those who put themselves in harms way each and everyday for the good of the poor and underprivileged in this world.

[Peggy Olson]

All that misplaced testosterone! Why not just a real man's job and let us gals take care of the artsy fartsy stuff.

[A Nony Mouse]

If you love reading about assholes be sure to read all the juicy comments here:
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/why-karma-is-a-bitch-for-marc-shmuger/#comments

[Watson Crick]

No mention of gender attributions here except for the AE. Last time we checked, being a screaming manic executive is not necessarily dependent on either an X or Y chromosome.

[Peggy Olson]

"...she asks if HE received the revisions."

There's you're Y chromosome, you big ape... and Edwina does make the point about screaming lady execs in the 2nd paragraph.

[Death]

Shut up! You Americans, all you do is talk, and talk, and say "let me tell you something" and "I just wanna say." Well, you're dead now, so shut up.

[Watson Crick]

I rest my case...

[Furniture Stores]

You aren't a true alpha male unless you pee on stuff to mark it.

[Barney Google]

maybe the AE will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.